⚘✾The Stalker Online¹⚘✾

I sat on the couch lamenting like one who lost her child. Indeed I lost my child; my baby was nowhere to be found. ( ऀืົཽ₍₍ළ₎₎ ऀืົཽ)

I couldn't think straight nor comprehend how it happened so fast and in the most freakish way.

"This is all your fault!" I growled at none other than Remi.

"What?! How?"

"I was sitted all by myself, having the best day, until you came around and forced me to go out with you! If you hadn't, I'd still be home and my phone would not have vanished!"

"Okay, chill. It's not completely his fault," Aisha tried to appease my emotions, "he didn't know this would happen."

"I'm… I'm sorry," Remi bowed his head soberly and it made me sad the more.

𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝.

It was Saturday. Aisha had gone to see her uncle with her whole family, I was home with mine, and Remi, obviously bored and lonely came around to my house to pester.

"There's this new mall just when you get out of your estate. Would you like to check it out?"

"Nope," I responded with no hesitation, playing a dress-up game on my mobile.

"Come on, it'll be fun. I feel we don't hang out like we used to. You no longer find these things amusing."

"I agree and I disagree"

Subsequently, my mom stepped into my room.

"Temi, I need you to help me with some stuff at the supermarket in front of the following estate... or you could just get them on your way back."

"Excuse me, way back from where?"

"Remi informed me about your outing today."

I slowly turned to Remi with a soured look on my face and he grinned.

"I am not in the mood for that today. Please just go away," I said to Remi.

"Temi, get dressed and leave this house. You can't be trapped here all day, on your phone. I will not allow that. Now when you're ready, come and get the list," she uttered and walked out.

"You're the most annoying human ever, you know that right?"

"Totally," he smiled with his hands tucked into the pockets of his sweat shirt.

"I don't even know what to wear."

"That shouldn't be a problem." He strode to my wardrobe and picked out an airbrushed sweatshirt with a blue jean then white sneakers.

"That? I'd be looking exactly like you."

"Yeah, lucky you. Get dressed quickly. I'll be in the living room."

I sighed and got down from my bed. 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠?

As soon as we left the house, we took a picture together and I instantly posted it to keep my imaginary fans updated. ツ It was captioned: "preparing to have a blast at the fanciest mall in town with my bff."

•>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>•

𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑

•<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<•

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞.

We arrived at the mall and first got ourselves some junk food. We played games, bought some cool stuff, and finally, I had to use the restroom.

On my way to the restroom, some butterfingers girl slipped then spilled some juice on me. I got drenched and hurried off to the bathroom. But first, I had to take a quick photo of it. ◤¬ ˒̫̮ ¬◥

I tried washing off the stain when unexpectedly, I noticed Remi around.

"What are you doing in the girls' bathroom?"

"Can I use your phone for a second?"

I handed my phone over to him and focused more on getting the stain off. "Some clumsy person just spilled some juice all over me. It's just so annoying. I felt like slapping her face. Now I don't think this stain will ever come off. Do you think it will?" I turned to him but he wasn't there anymore. "And where did he run off to with my phone?"

I succeeded in dealing with half of the stain. I returned to the previous section of the mall and there he was, speaking to some girl.

"Thanks for caring about my predicament," I sulked.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

"Of course," I rolled my eyes, "Cause you decided to leave just when I was telling you all about it."

"Huh? What are you saying?"

"Just give me back my phone."

"I'm not with it."

"I'm not in the mood for jokes. I need my phone now."

"But I never took your phone."

"Remi!"

"You know I don't joke in such manner. You never even gave me your phone. Like you ever allow anyone touch it."

"What are you saying?! You asked for my phone in the bathroom just few minutes ago and then you vanished."

He and the girl both looked at each other then back to me. He asked her, "Did I ever leave this seat?" And she answered, "Not at all."

"Who did you give your phone to cause it's certainly not me."

I was an inch to going berserk but I recalled that it wasn't in Remi's nature to joke mischievously or play dire pranks as this.

Anyway, I thought of jerking him and flinging him across the hall if he wouldn't provide my device in a second.

Remi studied my countenance and he broke out to my face, "Oh my God, Temi! Someone impersonated me and stole your phone!"

"What?!"

"Think about it. If I'm not with your phone, then who is? Someone has been following you."

He arose and grabbed confounded me by the hand, pulling me away.

"My sincere apologies, Victoria. I'll be back."

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤'𝐬 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚?

We screened the hall but there was not one person wearing the exact outfit as Remi. We barely found someone as light-skinned as he was.

We hurried off to the arcade and at some point, we ran diverse paths to enable us trap the culprit but of course, we couldn't be everywhere in the enormous mall all at once.

"That's it. My phone has been stolen," I broke down in tears.

"By a really clever criminal who knows you."

𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞.

There was no serious event that could have led to the theft of my phone. However, something remarkable happened to me few weeks before.

I was home on a particular day when this guy dropped a text, Adam.

"Hi, Temi."

"Hey, Adam. What's up?"

"I must admit: you're a true definition of impecabillity. Your entire appearance is immaculate."

"Aww, thanks."

"You are so beautiful and talented. Your skin reminds me of the peculiar natives of Africa. And your artistic potential is just top-notch. You are incredible."

"Lol, thank you so much."

"So, where's the dwelling place of my darling damsel?"

"Um, Nigeria."

"Where in Nigeria?"

"Lagos."

"Oh, okay."

The chats soon got boring and I needed to do something else but this guy wouldn't stop texting "hi" every minute. In fact, he responded to my texts as swift as lightening that it left me wondering if he remained still on our page and never went on to respond to the chats of others. It was becoming so freaky-deaky.

We kept chatting for few more days and again, he asked, "Where in Lagos do you stay?"

"Lekki."

"Where in Lekki?"

"Stillwaters."

"OMG! I live along that place too!"

"Really?"

"Yes. So where in Stillwaters do you stay? What's the name of your street and house number?"

"Sorry, I can't disclose that information to you."

"Please tell me. I implore."

"No, I cant."

"Okay. Can we meet at least?"

"Sorry I don't do meet-ups, especially with those I barely know."

"Ouch!"

"But I can assure that you would yearn to meet me one day. We shall meet real soon." His text came in again.

(-_-)

The following day, he popped up and dropped five 'hi's every hour that I wasn't online. I freaked! His freaky behavior was starting to disgust me and I just had to chat with him for a night in order not to seem rude.

Suddenly, one night, he said to me, "Temi, I am love sick. I am deeply in love with you. I can't get you out of my mind for a minute. Your picture is all over my phone and I can't get enough of staring at them. You are all I've ever wanted. Will you be mine?"

I was indeed flattered and at the same time amazed as I scrolled through the heart-emoji-stricken text. I assumed it to be a joke until this psychopath started to leave a romantic text every hour, saying things like, "I'd kill for you. You own my heart." ( :•︵•:)

"Please say yes, Temi."

"Temi, say yes and I'll give you everything you long for."

"Accept my proposal and make me your dream guy."

It went on like that for two days straight. He would also leave dumb comments on my posts and flood my pictures with comments that made it seem like we were a couple. Each time I ignored his, "hi" he'd run off to drop another one on my timeline.

I had to inform the guys all about it.

"Girl, there's a block button," Aisha said.

"No. I don't block people that way. I can't get them that offended."

"Well, then don't complain to us," Remi said.

"I'm not complaining to you, I'm complaining to Aisha." I sneered at him.

"Can't you see that he is a sicko? You need to end the contact."

I thought about it for a second then took out my phone. "Here goes nothing." I blocked Adam on every social media platform that got us connected.

But then, he arose again using other accounts.

"I am depressed. You broke my heart. True love is fake love."

Before I figured out how to fix that problem, he already figured out my whereabouts in the estate and started stalking me.

I went out to a nearby shop to get some stuff that day and few minutes later, I received a text saying, "I love the red dress you wore to Dazzle's Shop in the third street after mine around 5:32pm this evening."

Then "you smell nice. I want you so close to me."

Also, "hottie, move slowly while you walk cause you're killing someone behind."

After receiving such texts frequently, insecurity intruded my personal life. I was unable to move freely. Every guy around me was a suspect. Who exactly is this Adam guy and what does he want?

Aisha said to me, "report him to facebook so that all of his accounts gets restricted and it becomes really difficult for him to create another one. Perhaps you also need to change your whatsapp number or something and create a new IG account."

"That's too much. She doesn't need all of that. I'd advice you to just leave him be. Act like he doesn't even exist and he most likely will get tired. Stop triggering more attention from him."

I went on with Remi's advice and truly, he backed off.

•>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>•

𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑

•<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<•

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞.

¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶

"All I can say is that whoever stole your phone is someone close to you."

"Definitely! The person must have known we'd be at the mall at that time and that I'd be wearing that particular outfit. Whom did you inform?"

"No one! How could I have possibly told someone about it when you suddenly showed up at my house!"

"Well, do you have any suspects?" Aisha questioned.

"I'm suspicious of those boys at school—Lekan and the rest."

"Nah. It can't be them. I know that for sure. They are not smart enough to pull that off," Remi assured.

"When it comes to stealing? I think they are," Aisha said.

"You caused this, Remi."

"Girl, don't even pin this one on me cause it's also your fault. How could you have handed your phone over to a total stranger and not even notice? Was he the same height or even the same complexion as me? Was he even on glasses?"

"I don't know! I wasn't paying any attention. I saw a guy wearing the same outfit as you, standing next to me with his hoodie on, looking somewhere else and yes! He was on glasses. The first impression I had was that it was you cause you never give me any breathing space."

"Oh really?"

"Guys, just stop."

"Now my phone is gone," I whined and sobbed on Aisha's shoulder as she caressed me.

"I've had enough of your cry arsing and tears! You know what? I'll get you a brand new iPhone 11."

I rose my head and looked at her, "really?"

Of course she was capable of that. She was a famous YouTuber and her parents were filthy rich. She was in no doubt capable even though she was using an android.

"Now stop crying."

"That reminds me—Aisha, I need a new bike." He winked at her.

"Don't be selfish, we'll talk about that later. Our friend is in pain."

"Well, I feel you shouldn't get her a brand new phone just yet. We all know the kind of thrill that comes with having a new phone, coupled with her addiction."

"I'm not addicted!" I argued fiercely.

•>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>•

𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑

•<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<•

𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐲𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐬.

"Calm down. Remi makes a valid point, you know. So here's the deal: I'll get you a brand new phone by the end of the week if only you can survive the whole week without being bothered about the absence of a phone."

"That's not fair!" I said to my helper, "So you guys get to use phones and I sit around idle cause I'm the addict? How's that fair? As a matter of fact, we are all addicts."

"We are not all addicts. Trust me, this is good for us all. In fact, I and Remi are going to abandon our phones as well so that we can spend quality time with each other outside the virtual world. We haven't done that in a while now."

"Hold up… I never bargained for abandoning my phone as well."

"Should that be a problem, non-addict?" I said to his face.

"No, it is not," he said to my face.

"Good."

"Good."

"Both of you, listen, I'm glad this week is for our mid-term-break so we shall spend quality time with eachother and never use our phones all through. I call this the 'off social media challenge'. Now, watch this."

Aisha took her phone and went live on Instagram.

"Hello guys, it's your girl, Aisha. So I and my friends recently thought about this new challenge and it's called "The Off Social Media edia Challenge." We get to completely stay offline for a whole week then at the end, weigh and post our achievements and losses. It's gonna be fun because some people would actually break after a day and that's why it's a challenge, to see how much you can survive without a phone. Join us!"

𝐀 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭? 𝐎𝐡 𝐧𝐨~( ´•︵•` )~

¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•° ¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•° ¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶

It was Wednesday already. I hate to admit it but the off social media challenge, so far was very exciting. I engaged in a pack of fun.

We were outside of Remi's house playing basketball with his older brother. I got thirsty and I took a break, went in, and strode to the kitchen when suddenly, I was being drawn back by the sound of Remi's phone ringing. 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟, 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤?

"Remioluwa Wilson! Your phone dey buzz!" I called out like he'd hear me from outside.

I grabbed a bottled water and on my way back from the kitchen, the phone was still singing. I went to it, picked it up and froze in bafflement. It was my name on the screen; I was the caller. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?!

My heart bounced for a moment and I picked the call and placed it on a loud speaker.

"Hello, Remi. How long do I get to keep the phone and when do I get the money?"

I was dumb-founded and confounded. Instantaneously, Remi and Aisha walked in. They heard the caller repeatedly ask for payment and an update on when the phone, my phone would be returned. Finally, he hung up.

Remi looked shocked and guilty. Aisha looked afraid.

"Temi, before you say anything, I can explain," he walked towards me.

"No," I looked into their eyes, "I understand." I grabbed my purse and left the apartment.

𝐃𝐮𝐧, 𝐝𝐮𝐧, 𝐝𝐮𝐧! 𝐖𝐡𝐨'𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞?

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::♥• 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐓𝐀𝐆 "𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐌𝐂"

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